After the Storm
by mel-dickinson
Summary: Leon and Helena find a place to rest for the night only to realize their minds are far from peace. (T for sexual subject matter and my cursing in the author notes...)


**A/N: If you haven't played RE6, there a few spoilers. You've been warned.**

**After the Storm**

Helena slowly rolled over and put her back to Leon. She held her own breath as she listened to his, but the rain muffled much of the sound. He was fast asleep. Helena watched the lightening as it flashed through the two-by-fours. The sight was almost normal; the boards could have been curtains. She tried to think of times before zombies and viruses, but quickly realized that she lived little of her life without them.

She only let herself think of Deborah for second. She still couldn't believe she was gone. Deborah. Her baby sister. The "cute Harper sister". Helena always envied her sister for being naïve. Deborah saw only the good in the world. Helena was always too hard on herself.

Absent mindedly, Helena fingered the stone that brushed her collarbone. It had been a gift from her sister on Helena's fifteenth birthday. Their mother helped Deborah pick it out. She anxiously watched as her older sister unwrapped the tiny box, and breathed a sigh of relief when Helena's eyes lit up.

"It's beautiful, Debby!" She threw her arms about Deborah's tiny body.

"Mom helped me pick it out." She was twelve then. Helena could feel Deborah's ribs when she held her. Their mother always talked about how thin they both were.

"Eat up that cake before your father gets home and eats it all." Their mother wore a yellow sundress with scalloped pockets. She dressed much older than she really was. She had Helena when she was young – not much than Helena was then – but their mother loved her daughters equally. She carefully cut the cake, making sure now to destroy the lavender icing that said "Happy 15th Helena!" in perfect script.

Helena squeezed her eyes shut and threw the memory deep into her subconscious. She had other things to worry about now. She sat up in bed and pulled the thin sheet over her breasts. She had no reason to be embarrassed by her nakedness, but the rough texture comforted her skin. She looked around the room the two were in. The only light in the room was from the moonlight that shone through their two-by-four curtains, and from beneath the bedroom door.

The walls were covered with pictures of the family that only lived here weeks – maybe even days – before she and Leon found the empty shell of a house and claimed it as their own – for the time being. The family had taken precautions and nailed up all the windows and doors besides the back door that was heavily armed with padlocks. But for some reason they ran off anyway. Hopefully they ran far away from Tall Oaks with little hope that they could ever return.

The pair found the house in a deserted area outside the city. The area may have already been sterilized because the neighborhood streets weren't filled with pieces of loose flesh and moaning bodies. Everything was quiet. Maybe even too quiet, but the pair needed a place to rest.

The back door was unlocked with the keys sitting on the countertop right next to it. Wherever this family has fled to, they certainly weren't coming back. Helena checked up upstairs while Leon checked the first floor. They checked the basement and garage together. Thankfully, they found nothing but a few dead rats that died while trying to climb through the piping. They could breathe easy for now.

Helena watched the light below the door. They left the hall light on so if they did have any unexpected guests, they hoped to catch their shadows before they found a way inside the locked door.

Leon stirred in his sleep, but didn't wake. She stared at the stubble that lined his hard chin. Leon was such a mystery to her. He was several years older than her and was part of the original Raccoon City incident. She wondered what kinds of nightmares haunted his dreams. He was a brick wall which she had no idea how to break down. Sometimes he came off serious and other times sweet. He cared more about others than he did his own well-being. He never spoke of any family. Maybe the only reason he still fought this war was for the chance that future generations could live without zombies and viruses.

The only person he ever mentioned was Redfield and that Asian woman. Helena only knew of who Chris Redfield was. Leon might have mentioned that he had a sister. But it was the Asian woman that left the biggest missing piece of the puzzle.

"So can we trust her?" Helena asked.

"It's complicated." He hesitated.

Helena wanted to know more about her yet never asked. And she knew that her partner wouldn't budge.

Thunder rumbled. Her eyes left his face and followed down his body; past his toned arms and torso; past his groin and legs, down to his exposed feet. The sight of his toes made her smile. He looked so young and peaceful. She even found herself smiling at him. She was surprised to see him naked.

This wasn't the first time they had found themselves in this situation. Usually when they finished, Leon would quickly pull his clothes back on, and sleep with his holster and boots still on. He didn't want to be caught off guard during the night. Helena on the other hand enjoyed the feeling of the sheets on her naked body. The warmth of the bed that housed their lovemaking.

It wasn't lovemaking. It was sex. Angry sex. Two people who craved intimacy from each other because they had no one else. They were completely alone.

With every deep thrust of his hips, Leon was pushing the anger out of himself. And Helena took every blow without strain. She wanted his pain. She wanted his sorrow because she knew that was something they had in common. Even well after she had found her own release, Leon kept going, holding himself back until the very last moment when all the evil could be washed out of him at once.

Leon had been the one who made sure the two had condoms. Out of all the things to worry about during a zombie apocalypse, he worried about condoms. But he didn't want any possibility that he could bring another human into this terrible world.

The two never kissed. That was too intimate. They just wanted each other for what they were – not who they were. They said very little to each other after they finished. Usually, they would be setting up camp for the night, securing the area of an old office building or a school. Leon would suddenly push her up against a wall. Most times their clothes would stay on. His pants would fall to his knees, and Helena could feel the heels of her boots digging into his back side with every thrust. When they were finished, he would set her down, pull his pants up, and begin cooking himself a can of beans over the open fire, or go straight to bed.

They never talked about their relationship. It just was. After the first time, they developed an understanding. They would take the other when they needed it. No questions asked. In a world full of madness, sex was something they both understood.

Leon knew that Helena's eyes were on him. He hadn't been able to sleep for weeks now. His mind only drifted and dozed. Part of him stopped caring about the world. He wanted to give up and kill himself before one of those bastard zombies did. He would much rather go down by his own hand than the undead.

Tonight was one of those nights when his negative side took over the positive. He lied naked in bed with no hope of ever getting up again. The sheets were damp from his sweat. He lied on his stomach with his face turned towards the window. He let himself catch glimpses of the moonlight between deep breaths. He didn't want Helena to know he was awake.

He thought of Claire – a face he hadn't seen in years. The two had become such good friends after the outbreak; it's a shame they never saw each other anymore. But since he had begun working for the government, he found ways to keep tabs on her. As long as he knew she was alive and safe, he could breathe easy.

Helena was a different kind of partner. She was someone he couldn't see himself keeping in contact with. He couldn't see himself having dinner with her, or asking her to stop by just to say hello. They didn't have a friendship. They had an understanding.

She wasn't Claire, and she definitely wasn't Ada.

Ada. Who would have thought her name would forever haunt him. He still trusted her even if she had her own motives. Even though she had held him at gunpoint more than once, he still loved her. Even as a teenager, romantic love was something he never felt for another person. He deeply cared about his friends, and family, and other civilians, so it made sense for him to become a cop. But he never thought he would fall in love with a woman who always wore red. She was danger. She was torture. She was ambiguity. She was a bitch, but he loved her – endlessly.

He knew that very few people trusted her. She was like a cat, always up to something. And yet, Leon still pictured them walking out of this madness together, hand in hand. He always wanted what he couldn't have.

"I know what you're thinking, lover boy," Someone he had convinced her to get a drink with him not long after their endeavor in Spain. She wore a low-cut red sweater. Leon struggled to keep his eyes on her face. She liked to toy with him. "And the answer is always going to be no."

"You can't blame a guy for trying." He smiled over his rum and Coke. She pressed her lips together. He knew he had her even though she was fantastic at covering her emotions. At this time they had only knew each other for a few years.

"I'm a married woman," She rolled her eyes.

"No, you're not." "Being infatuated with yourself doesn't mean you're in a committed relationship."

"It does to me."

As he had hoped, she caved, and the two spent the night together in a terrible-shade-of-orange Spanish hotel room. As expected, she was gone when he woke the next morning. He loved knowing how he messed with her head. Ada had feelings for him whether she wanted to admit it or not.

The two had known each other for over ten years now, and he still hadn't given up the chase. Maybe because she hadn't given up either.

He could hear the annoyance in Helena's voice every time Ada was brought up. He knew she was jealous, but as his partner, she had no right to be. They worked together. They watched out and took care of each other. But they weren't friends.

He felt the bed move as she climbed out, bringing the sheet with her. He silently watched as she walked toward the window and stood there like a ghost.

"Leon," She must have noticed his open eyes. She didn't wait for a reply to continue. "Do you think we'll ever get out of this?"

The pain in her voice caught him off guard. Normally he would have said something hopefully, but his negative attitude was pulling him down.

"Do you think we'll finally see a horizon that isn't broken by unnatural clouds? Do you think our kids will be able to run around outside without fear that something will pull them into the dark?"

He held his breath. He didn't know what to say. He was at a loss for words. More than anything he wanted a world like that, but right now it didn't seem that world was possible. People needed to change before the world could; lately they only turned into bigger monsters.

"Do you think this storm will ever end?" She was now looking at him through the dark. Her eyes glistened. "Do you think that Deborah and I could have picked our lives up again and started completely over? Do you think that you and Ada will ever live happily ever after without Umbrella hanging over your heads?"

She hit home. Helena knew was it was like to lose someone even if Leon felt like he was in the business of an executioner. Every person he got close to, he hurt. Was that why he wouldn't let himself be friends with Helena? Was that why he always stayed one step behind Ada?

He let out a sigh and turned over. He laid there completely naked staring at her ghostly figure.

Despite all the loss he had been feeling, despite all the pain that still burned in his chest, his veins, his mind, his answer was always the same: "Yes," Hope was the only thing that kept him sane in this world of madness. "One day, we'll get out of this. Maybe not in our time, but one day soon."

He watched as the tears now ran her porcelain face. "You really think that?"

He sat up and covered himself with the remaining blankets.

"I know it." He gestured her to come over to him. At first she hesitated, but finally her ghostly form made its way back to bed, and found itself nestled in his chest. The two fell asleep to the sound of the rain hitting the house.

They both dreamed of dancing in the rain.

**A/N: REALLY cheesy one-shot and I know it needs work, but I was really inspired to write this after Capcom made all the obvious signs that they were attracted to each other somehow. Okay I'm going to fangirl for a second so HUGE SPOILER ALERT (grated I've only just beat Ch 5 of RE6): I DIED WHEN LEON DEFENDED ADA IN FRONT OF CHRIS. HE WAS LIKE BITCH, I LOVE THIS WOMAN. BACK THE FUCK UP, EH? It was great. SECONDLY. LEON'S FACE WHEN HE REALIZED HE DIDN'T HAVE TO TAKE CARE OF SHERRY ANYMORE. FUCKING PRICELESS ZOMG. Okay. I'm alright for the time being. I'll tell you more about my opinion on RE6 later. REVIEWWWWW LOVEYOUALLL :D **


End file.
